Bilic failed to capture top target William Carvahlo after Sporting Lisbon left it too late to accept the Hammers bid.

Sullivan said: "It's no secret that we made a club record bid for Sporting Lisbon's William Carvahlo but unfortunately that offer was rejected a couple of weeks ago.

"Late last night Sporting Lisbon made contact to accept the original offer, but unfortunately it was just too late in the day, and we simply did not have enough time to put the player through a medical."